Florida Department of Law Enforcement Solves Child Abduction Case with LexisNexis® Advanced Investigative Solution

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• Application Infrastructure & Middleware - Data Visualization

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Special Agent Chris Woehr, assigned to the economic crimes squad, learned about a baby abduction from a local hospital's maternity ward. The police responded quickly, locking down the hospital and establishing a perimeter, but believed the suspect had already left. They had a description of the car, including the age, make, model, and a partial license plate number. The Sanford Police Dept. issued a 'BOLO' alert for the vehicle. Agent Woehr approached Robin Sparkman, an analyst at FDLE, with the vehicle information. She entered the information into the dFACTS system, developed with the LexisNexis® Advanced Investigative Solution platform. Using the Wild Card search feature, she received a list of five vehicles, four of which were in central Florida. One vehicle was registered to a female in the city where the abduction took place. FDLE used an additional source to get a description of the woman and matched it with the suspect in less than 10 minutes. The information was relayed back to the investigators, who matched the driver's license photo of the suspect with surveillance footage from the hospital. A police unit in Lake Mary spotted the car and conducted a traffic stop, finding the infant boy unharmed in the suspect's car.

The Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) is dedicated to promoting public safety and strengthening domestic security. Headquartered in Tallahassee, FDLE conducts independent investigations and coordinates multi-jurisdictional and special criminal investigations with local, state, and federal authorities. Their key investigative focus areas include major drugs, violent crime, public integrity, and fraud/economic crime. FDLE employs a range of advanced investigative tools and techniques to solve complex cases and ensure the safety and security of the community. Their commitment to public safety is evident in their swift and effective response to critical incidents, such as child abductions, where they leverage technology and collaboration to achieve successful outcomes.

The LexisNexis Advanced Investigative Solution is a web-based tool that integrates public records and law enforcement data sets to help instantly uncover leads that would normally take days or weeks to track down manually. The solution assists in locating people, detecting fraud, uncovering assets, and discovering connections between associates. This system helps shorten investigation time, free up valuable staff, minimize costs associated with lengthy investigations, and, in some cases, save lives. In this case, the FDLE used the Advanced Investigative Solution to quickly narrow down vehicle matches based on partial license plate information. The Wild Card search feature allowed them to generate a list of five potential matches within minutes. By cross-referencing additional data sources, they were able to identify the suspect and relay the information to the investigators. This rapid identification and communication enabled the police to locate and recover the abducted infant within a short time frame.

• FDLE information analysts obtained a list of five vehicle matches within minutes using the Advanced Investigative Solution.
• The system enabled further narrowing down of initial matches based on vehicle description.
• The entire incident, from the time the police were called to the hospital until the recovery of the infant, transpired in about one hour and 15 minutes.

• The entire incident was resolved in about one hour and 15 minutes.